2012 Federal Budget

OTTAWA — The Harper government, midway through its majority mandate, has introduced a no-frills budget that promises to connect Canadians with jobs, slay the deficit by 2015-16 and provide cheaper baby clothing for consumers. In his fiscal blueprint tabled in [...]

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OTTAWA – Gov. Gen. David Johnston will now be required to pay GST/HST on all purchases, whether personal or related to the official business of Rideau Hall. According to Thursday’s budget, a special exemption in the Excise Tax Act is [...]

OTTAWA — A year after trying to keep older workers in the workforce longer, the federal government signalled Thursday that it will now focus on retraining unemployed workers to meet growing demand in the skilled trades. Budget 2013 includes a [...]

OTTAWA — Canadians will receive extra tax relief on baby clothes, adoption expenses and sporting equipment as part of new measures announced in Thursday’s budget, but smokers will face a substantial hike in levies on manufactured tobacco for rolled cigarettes. [...]

OTTAWA — The Harper government is merging Canada’s foreign aid agency with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. It also plans to leverage billions in spending on military equipment into making Canada an arms exporter. The two moves, [...]

OTTAWA — The Harper government is renewing its multi-billion dollar public infrastructure programs with a 10-year plan that targets key demands from Canadian cities, and offers billions of dollars in new spending to help provinces and communities meet basic needs [...]

OTTAWA — A world-renowned water research facility facing potential shutdown in the coming days will receive no last-minute help from Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s 2013 budget. But the fiscal plan does include $325 million over eight years for an arms-length [...]

OTTAWA – The Department of Canadian Heritage is taking over some of the main functions of the National Capital Commission, according to the federal budget. Calling the NCC “locally based,” the federal government said it intends to take over promotion [...]

OTTAWA — The federal government is pledging to close tax loopholes and crack down on international tax evasion with a series of new measures — including cash rewards to whistleblowers — that it expects will save the government and taxpayers [...]

OTTAWA — Finance Minister Jim Flaherty faces some inconvenient truths as he rises in the House of Commons at 4 p.m. ET on Thursday to introduce his ninth federal budget. None are particularly pleasant, but all are haunting him and [...]

OTTAWA — As Finance Minister Jim Flaherty delivers the federal budget Thursday in the House of Commons, the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer will deliver arguments in court seeking clarity on its mandate and more information on the Conservative [...]

As he approaches his eighth and possibly final budget, Jim Flaherty will no doubt be thinking about his legacy, the last acts that will shape how he’ll be remembered. The air is thick with leaks, speculation and flat-out guesses of [...]

OTTAWA — It cost the federal government responsible for the national police force more than $227,000 to host a summit aimed at reducing policing costs, Postmedia News has learned. Documents obtained through access-to-information legislation show Public Safety initially allocated $120,000 [...]

OTTAWA – Canada needs more skilled workers. Indigenous Canadians need more jobs. Can the federal budget marry these two realities in order to help the economy? Skills training is expected to be a major theme in Thursday’s federal budget, and [...]

OTTAWA — The Harper government’s budget cuts to scientific research at Environment Canada have compromised the department’s capacity to crack down on cancer-linked pollution and its mandate to enforce clean air regulations, say enforcement officers in a collection of internal [...]

OTTAWA - It seems the only soldiers who are safe from the coming budget axe are those that parade around Parliament Hill in the changing of the guard ceremony for tourists in the summer, a leaked report suggests.

OTTAWA — Dan Braniff considers himself a savvy investor, quite knowledgeable about the federal tax system. The retired telecommunications manager once oversaw a multimillion-dollar budget, and still plays the financial markets to help sustain his post-work life. But heading into [...]